Chris Gilbert 11th; KU men 10th at Brickyard

Macon, Ga.  Chris Gilbert holed a shot from approximately 100 yards out on No. 12, which ignited a stretch of three birdies over his last seven holes to record a final-round 70 and tie for 11th place with a 2-under 214 on the final day of the Brickyard Collegiate on Sunday at Riverside Golf Club.

KU shot a three-round total of 886 and placed 10th in the team race.

Gilbert’s round began with 10 consecutive pars before the senior broke the streak with a bogey on the par-3, 215-yard No. 11. Gilbert appeared to be heading toward back-to-back bogeys after hitting it in the hazard on the par-5, 488-yard No. 12, but a clutch wedge shot changed everything.

“He took a drop from the hazard, hit an 8-iron up to about 100 yards and made it from there,” Kansas coach Jamie Bermel said. “He turned a bogey into a birdie. That recharged him a little bit. He played well. He made some good up-and-downs, had a few chances and made some putts. Overall, he was just really solid again this week.”

Gilbert carded his sixth-straight round of par or better Sunday, but the rest of the Jayhawks struggled. Sophomore Dylan McClure and freshman Jackson Foth each shot 3-over 75. Kansas’ fourth score came from Stan Gautier, whose 79 was 10 shots worse than his opening-round 69 (-3). After sitting in a tie for second after the first day of the event with an even-par 288, KU fell to 10th in the last round after its second-straight 299.

“We just didn’t play well,” Bermel said. “Our fourth score got way too high the last two days, and it killed us. I don’t know what the problem is. We were in fourth place after the first round and progressively got worse. We need to come out and play with that type of energy and that type of focus every round. It’s just sloppy golf and silly mistakes out there that we have to correct.”